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Friday, December 30, 2005

the mongoose stayed in bed all day. i started my day at 11.30, and went to my old high school. i went to say hi to a couple of teachers, and get my niece's results.

firstly, i had to wait an hour. so did everyone else. my aunt arrived - congratulations all around... her daughter got 7 A's for her finals, with an average of 103%. insane. that's the cousin ("tgtbt") that the mongoose met and was taken with on arrival.

my nephew managed to miss me somehow, and i missed my niece's friend - so the only thing i did was talk to the teacher's. got boring quickly.

i went looking for hyperviper, but that proved too much of a mission. i then went to the doctor - i seem to be alright, and on my way back something clicked, and i got back into cape town mode. i'm all good *thumbs up*.

i visited my great-uncle, who's not doing so well, and then my elder niece and her boyfriend picked me and the mongoose up and we went to tank, for absolutely SUPERB sushi and sashimi. that ROCKED.

we went to the labrynth. same place (just closed off) that we've been the whole week, but kicked it's own ass [sic] completely. GRINDING trance beats the entire night, and the crowd was excellent. tgtbt was there with a friend, and i even ran into the guy who taught me to spin - he's been djing 7 years overseas, and has come back and opened up a restaurant and grill.

go figure.

i bounced my legs to death, so going to bed was in slow-mo. but i felt goooood.

today:

slow-mo wake-up, then went past my cousins' and saw my brother and both his kids. i didn't even know the younger one was in town.

my mom, the mongoose and i went off to tygervalley, to do some camping gear shopping. aeroplane rocked up, for a chat and to return my goggles, and then we head back. i went to the synagogue, which was a pleasant service, dropped off a cousin in not-at-ALL-pretentious top rd, then returned home for a brilliant supper.

now to find some rock.

now if only my sinuses would stop acting up. a day before 3 days of dust. silly human vehicle.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

we missioned to the waterfront for cash, then to call-a-pizza for pizza and vortex tickets, attempted to buy boardies for less than R200 (didn't manage), and went to read by the pool.

went to shadowslight's mum's place, discovered nobody there, then went to shadowslight's. it was a fun evening, in spite of the abysmal failure of my texas hold'em strategy which works just fine against the germans. go figure. the mongoose did quite well, though.

we went out on the town - eventually found a decent-ish joint which had funky music. the dj was killer - between sets he beatboxed unbelievably, well enough to make the evening worthwhile.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

it's 3pm, and i still haven't woken up properly. we spent yesterday on the beach. hunting, mostly. met some gorgeous german girls, and i gave them the wrong phone number. i don't know how.

we went to a lebanese restaurant for supper. the food was okay. the bill wasn't. we got horribly, horribly ripped off. sweetiepie joined us, and we all went off to see narnia. it IS the bee's knees. superbly close to the book, and thoroughly enjoyable. stunning, in fact.

we went to opium again. it was filled with johannesburg's worst - all the jewish kids. we kept hoping things would improve. but they didn't. i'd forgotten how much they agitate me.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

so this morning (yesterday morning. whatever.) was quite laid back. we continued watching the devil's advocate, i introduced the mongoose to my twin niece and nephew, and we went off to the aquarium.

on the way, we found a lot of nice gifts at the waterfront, which was helpful.

the aquarium was grossly disappointing. R65 to enter, and seeing EVERYTHING (some things twice, even) took about 20 minutes. there were only three exhibits that were at all interesting: penguins (amusing), jellyfish (pretty), and enormous lobster-like beasts (creepy). that SUCKED.

we improved our mood a bit with decadent donuts (dough, i know), and then drove through to my cousin's place, to chill at the pool. the mongoose was introduced to the older niece. pity that the cute friend my niece brought along has a boyfriend...

after they left, my mom arrived. we went upstairs to play star wars - battlefront, which really is the shit. we then left to long street (m bar) for drinks with hyperviper, noddiex, and a couple of others... we drank a LOT. seriously. it was really nice there.

i drove home, with only one dangerous incident. i'm not impressed with myself, but we were under time-pressure. no excuse, but it happened.

we finished watching the movie, dressed nicely, and went off to a fancy (supposedly, they were extremely unprofessional in every sense) restaurant. i had an enormous bowl filled with mussels. i made an absolute pig of myself. and the mongoose actually managed to find something nice that he could eat (he's turned out a mite picky, of late).

service aside, it was a very pleasant evening. we returned home to pick up keys, then drove through to landsdowne to meet up with sweetiepie - got a bit lost, and then all the pubs turned out to be closed, so we went to her place. i'm sorry for wasting the mongoose's time, but it was great catching up with her. we talked a lot longer than i expected, and it was interesting. nice place, too :P

we were joking about getting married, and decided against it because the whole jewish / catholic thing doesn't work for either of us. jokes aside, she's one of the few girls i would even consider marrying. *sigh*

anyways, we then went to opium. and finally got there while it was still possible to get in. and we were dressed right.

the music was great, the whole night, and the women were fantastic. incredible. unbelievable. superb. talented all round. we both enjoyed ourselves immensely. finally! we found something!

i'm the last to pass out, it seems. any minute now... (especially considering the volume of alcohol in my blood)

Monday, December 26, 2005

the mongoose and i went to cafe erte to use the net, and have some coffee. place has become even sadder than before. swak. protoplasm joined us, and we left.

we started off the night at call-a-pizza. good music, but there were only about five people there. we went to getafix, which was also practically empty. bummer. so we missioned long street, in which every party was falling off the rails. at 3am. rediculous.

we tried opium, which actually looked like a great party - but even at 3am they weren't letting people in anymore. that really killed me. there was no way of knowing, but if we'd gone there first... nevermind. the mongoose walked into sliver, and walked out impressed at the party, but confused as to the lack of women :P

so we said goodbye to protoplasm, and went back to getafix. that lasted all of half an hour. then we farked off home. i crashed on the couch, too tired and lazy to go downstairs.

yesterday:

we got up around 12, finally left the apartment at 12.40, and made it to gordon's bay around 13.20. not bad. we got to the sandman's folks' place just as they were in their final unwrapping round. it was really nice to see everybody, and we handed our gifts over - i was not only embarrassed because i didn't know if the gifts were good or not (i don't know how these things work!), but i wasn't sure of the sandman's girlfriend's name (which i had, strangely enough, gotten right). but their reactions were a gift to me :)

we went to the beach - sending the mongoose in to his first real ocean experience, and spent the day braaiing and chatting and generally enjoying ourselves. the food was fantastic.

sandman, his girlfriend and the two of us went for a walk in the evening, which netted us some incredible photos - we'll try to post as soon as possible. we got back, and said rushed goodbyes to everyone as we tried to make the narnia movie - we really did hurry, but we got there too late. sucked. so we returned, chatted a while, and then drove back to cape town.

all in all - amazing christmas ^_^

we went to rent a movie, and i had to pay R50 to unblock my account... i've now changed the account code, so my nieces and nephew can no longer screw me over like that. right pissed me off.

we rented the devil's advocate, but we were both so tired that we only got through about half an hour before crashing.

i went to sleep at my sister's again, and i slept badly again. i think i'll just sleep on the couch from now on.

i just found out that we missed the first night of hanukkah last night :$oh well. at least there're seven more nights.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

woke up around 9-ish, had breakfast, woke up the mongoose, and we drove off to town. christmas shopping, you know. tomorrow we'll be having lunch with an afrikaans (sandman's) family, it's both of our first christmas ever :P

started off at outer limits, which was fun, then walked around the lower end of st. georges mall and through the train station. didn't find much, aside from some beggar who pissed me off by telling me that the only reason i didn't want to give him money was because he's black. stupid fucker.

the mongoose had breakfast at green's, i just had a hunter's dry (i'd forgotten about those). t'was alright. we then met protoplasm at greenmarket square, for some hefty missioning and bits of shopping and bargaining here and there. and we found an awesome smoker's utility shoppe, which will be visited for prezzies before i leave.

we then re-met up with protoplasm at canal walk, which was a bit crazy. i had some good chinese, and we got stuck in the experilab shop-thingy, which turned out lots of neat gifts and things. i found an awesome book, which i'll have to go buy for myself - a compilation of stories about murderers and motives. perfect for xmas.

went off to see my aunt one last time before she returned to canadia (yes, that thar's on purpose), which was nice but sad. on our way we got amazing photo's of the firefighting helicopters in action - the mountain was on fire. i blame the mongoose.

the two of us made our way to call-a-pizza, which had great music and better pizza's, and we're gonna go past later on to a small trancemas party they're throwing. we then sat on a fence by clifton and watched the sunset.

stunning.

on our way back we noticed another fire on the strand - some people are not having a merry christmas - and i'm still blaming the mongoose - and have come back to crash before going out.

last night: shadowslight and i went to stones (what used to be ballroom). closed.CLOSED???
CLOSED.
my word. so much history in there - my first cigarette, the first (only) time i ever got my lights punched out... actually, maybe it's not so bad.

we went through to the camps bay strip - DEAD. so we had a couple of drinks, and chatted for ages. there were some nice girls, but i was completely apathetic. the only chance of anything happening was if one of them had jumped on my lap and begun trying to seduce me.

today:

i slept until twelve. i went shopping, which was a bit of a mission really - it was the day before christmas eve... and then returned home to work on those undisclosed things. visited my brother and his son at my sister's place, and then a bit of getting-sorted-out before dropping her and her boyfriend off at the airport, sitting down for a beer, and then picking up the mongoose.

it's strange, and very cool having him here.

straight back to my place, he showered and we got ready and then rushed off to the dinner. awesome place. good food. quite fun. unsurprisingly, he's completely taken by tgtbt, i think it might've been better if he'd met other girls first :P

tried the camps bay stretch afterwards, even deader than before, so we came back here and he's just crashed. i'll be following suit shortly.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

the barmitzvah itself was really nice. i'd forgotten how to put on tefillin, so that was kinda embarrassing, and it's the first time i've heard been bass accompaniment to the torah reading (some athlone special went past).

the day event was cool - food was great, speeched were nice, and there were some pretty girls even if it was all "look, don't touch". t'was all very social.

drinks with the aunt in the evening, which was very pleasant, then coffee with the cousin (and another screening of valiant) until now. now off to play some pool with shadowslight. tomorrow be busy.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

i was waiting for the bus to go through to taekwondo this morning (to say hi and complain about the non-functioning dvds they sold me last year), when i saw my brother drive past, so i called him and got him to stop and give me a ride.

his kid's just been kicked off summer camp for peeing on / in (not clear) the head of his group's trunk. i think that's most amusing, for many reasons.

nobody at taekwondo, so i went to the waterfront for great doughnuts and a quick hunting mission. then i bussed back, got ready, and dragged my nephew out of his shell and we went with my sister's boyfriend to the beach.

very cool afternoon, the wind was a bit annoying, but it is STUNNING muizenberg side. tried to boogeyboard, i'm not very good. i suck, actually. and i came out with seriously hurting inner-ears. after an hour or so we met up with my cousins, and the afternoon was chilling on the beach.

my sister's boyfriend and i dropped off my nephew (who made a real noise until we agreed to let him go), and then farked off to la med for too much beer, and awesome hamburgers. talked a lot, then he dropped me off at home and i went out shoe shopping with my mom.

i don't like shopping, but eventually we found a pair i can deal with. stopped for great coffee, and did quite a bit of ogling (there were some nice women about).

off to my aunt's best friend, who i haven't seen in many years, and had a very pleasant time wrestling their crazy dog while my mom tried on dresses for tomorrow. *just* got back now, about to begin speech-writing for tomorrow morning, and then it's off to bed!

i napped a bit after posting this morning, then my canadian aunt came over for a chat with my second mom (hers too), and then we went through to another aunt's place (mom of the barmitvah boy).

walking onto her balcony is like entering a dream. the view is too beautiful to be real.

i had a chat with her daughter, who's not only amazingly smart and beautiful, but is also into full-on psychedelic trance and the crusty parties we have. that surprised me... i thought i was the only one :)

it was great seeing everybody else, too - everyone preparing like crazy for the main event on thursday and friday. i did a quick shopping trip, had coffee, and then dropped off the car with my mom, and my canadian aunt took me to sea point for lunch. we ran into my uncle and aunt from the other side of the family, and they joined us - it's the first time i've been able to have a conversation with him in hebrew (he teaches hebrew in university), so that made me feel good. we then dropped them off at my cousins', went on a quick shopping trip for pants for the barmitzvah, and then i joined everyone at my cousins' for tea.

i do enjoy spending time with my brother and cousins. my cousins' kid introduced me to star wars - battlefront (i think, there're lots of similar titles). AWESOME game. will play during housesitting.

i got a ride home, waited for my mom, and we then went through to other cousins for supper. that was most pleasant. haven't laughed that much in a long time. my mom, canadian aunt and i joined a family friend for coffee, and then when i got back home my niece arrived with her boyfriend for more coffee.

i posted my blog, went downstairs, and got into protoplasm's new car. we had a looooong drive to the party - about 170km, through absolutely stunning scenery. and a quick stop in robertson, where i had an amusing encounter when buying cigarettes in afrikaans :P

we paid R120 to get in, which horrified me, but it was more than made up for. when we stepped through the bushes (and slid a bit down the hill) and onto the dancefloor, we'd hit what i can only describe as paradise.

hundreds of happy faces, weird and wonderful, lots of beautiful, beautiful girls and many people digging hard in the mud and tossing handfuls everywhere (to nothing but sheer delight). the dancefloor was in the middle of a gorgeous little clearing surrounded by hills, the sun was shining and everything was green and brown ^_^

and some guy did something legendary. the sound rig quit, and while the dj was tending to it he launched himself, landing face first in the mud and sliding on his chest the entire length of the dancefloor, stopping with a barely audible "dink" when his head hit something under the platform. after a couple of seconds of silence, which we needed to understand what had happened, the entire place erupted with laughter. the guy walked back a hero :)

and the music was the most powerful i've heard. i actually couldn't keep my body under control - i was constantly moving and grooving. at one point the bass was so heavy that we could only hear a slightly hollow noise, and the ground itself was shaking.

when i die, that's where i want to be.

the trip back took forever, but i spent most of it passed out. i'm not sure what time we got back to sea point, but protoplasm stopped in for a drink, and my mom joined us. we were sitting there chatting and smoking, and when my mom finished her drink she made a comment about wondering who she'd hit, and tossed the ice backwards over the balcony. i jumped up to see, and was laughing before i got to the edge - *just* in time to see the last block of ice land with a thump.

"ma, guess who's car that just landed on." "who's?" she asked as she stood up."yours." that got us laughing hysterically for the next 5 minutes. her car is going in for panel-beating anyway :P

i showered streams of mud off myself, and spent the evening napping in front of the tv, ate a fantastic boerewors hotdog supper, and was woken by my aunt who i haven't seen in about 5 years. had a nice chat. eventually i went to bed.

today:

i woke up agitated by sunburn - i look a bit like a zebra, and had a good start to the day. then aeroplane and some buddies picked me up, and we spent a few hours on clifton 4th - every time i return there it's like the first time i've ever seen a beach that pretty. proper white sand! practically empty except for a few dead-sexy girls!

we played around with a soccer ball the entire time, and at one point i tried to get in the water... i just wanted to dip my head and return, but my body refused once my legs were in such incredible pain. i ended up hobbling and stumbling back out the water with the top half of my body still dry. so sad.

i crashed when i got home, and woke up much later to go out to dinner with my mom and aunt. it was REALLY nice, the food was amazing, and we got some serious talking done :) returned home about half an hour ago... or something... and am about to disconnect and go offline. and then really go offline :)

Sunday, December 18, 2005

i was woken around 10.30 to be invited to schpatcon. i began my day with some serious shopping - got myself some decent threads for the party, and found out that the awesome el cheapo shoes are available :)

i got dropped off at greens, for a beer and an excellent, although admittedly extremely odd, french toast and bacon and berries breakfast. sweetiepie's ex drove me home - it's the first time we've actually met, guess which subject won't come up in any event. decent guy, is now also keen on sorting out urban paintball: christmas edition.

that would be keen.

i dropped my mom off with some cousins, then drove off to campus. i haven't driven manual in a year, and my mind was a bit fuzzy, but everything came naturally, and i was paying so much attention to rage against the machine that i suddenly found myself in the right parking lot :P

it was excellent seeing everyone again, and great fun schooling tekken again ;) amusing harmonica jam session before i left, and my schpatcon shirt is already serving me well.

i met up with hyperviper on the way home, and was most entertained by the parking attendant playing the lotto...

i crashed for an hour or two watching the series channel, ate a ton of fried fish, and almost broke an irreplaceable glass lid. my mom came home, i transferred all my phone numbers to my sa sim card, made some calls, got all snazzed up, and got dropped off in long street.

the party was kind of dead when i got there, but an hour or so later it really picked up. i am fascinated and satisfied with the quality and quantity of females there, the music was great, the vibe was good.

i did, however, drink too much. ended up crashing an hour or two in hyperviper's car. very, very comfortably, i might add.

they woke me up around 4.30, and my eyes weren't working yet when we walked into what i can only thing of as wonderland. crazy bar, insane and very weird people, and they'd just closed. it was all very trippy.

-- i woke up --

we then set off to sliver, which is what's become of angels. and to whatever detour is now called. it farking rocked, just as it always has - the music was fantastic, the people rather, er... colourful. and even a couple of birds, one of whom's outfit will be one of my cherished memories from now on.

bounced around to some powerful house, then went on a gta style drive, and they guys dropped me off home. i've just brushed my teeth, changed into "dirty" clothes, and am off to the alien safari!!

watching the dawn waves crash home on a beautiful summer morning. every view of the mountain or the ocean has been breathtaking.

Saturday, December 17, 2005

i finished up the packing and the showering and the laundry, disconnected all electrical items, got dressed and walked to the lizard.

the party was great. brilliant music => LOTS of dancing and going crazy on the dancefloor, quite a few friends showed up (our team all going nuts together was quite the bonding experience), and we drank quite a bit. the mongoose's ex brought me some more of the still-undisclosed stuff, which is good.

she drove me home, where i quickly changed clothing (i partied a little too hard to go straight to the plane), and then to the airport. i walked in at 3.10am, and going through all the procedures took forever, and at some points was quite frustrating... i was soooooo wasted. the new airport is quite spanky, though.

ran into a dead sexy girl who just got released from our base (not the cute one i mentioned earlier), and the guy who took care of my group when i was in israel in '96.

that cute girl - never found her. i was dead / dying by the time (5.30am) we boarded, and all i could think of was falling asleep on the plane.

the flight sucked. i did fall asleep in bits and pieces, but aside from the seat being totally uncomfortable (causing me to wake up unable to move my head at some points), there was a baby two seats in front of me that didn't stop screaming the entire fucking flight. unbelievable. drove me mad. all in all i reckon i slept about 2 / 3 hours, and spent the rest of the flight in zombie mode.

speaking of zombie mode - from the time i got to the airport i stopped feeling like a soldier. as if i'd turned off that entire part of me that's been developing over the last year. freaks me out a bit, actually.

and i started the adventures of tom sawyer, which is an absolute pleasure to read.

the food was actually okay! that was totally unexpected.

finally got to johannesburg, glided through passport control, waited forever for my bag, slipped through customs (i REALLY didn't have anything to declare :P), and took the long walk to domestic departures. the girl at the british airways ticket counter wasn't very helpful, but at the check-in the girl put me on standby for an earlier flight. and then, extremely helpfully, didn't explain to me what i had to do.

after some embarrassing run-ins with security, i managed to figure out where to go, and waited with the rest (11) of the stand-bys. eventually got onto the flight, went through security, and got to boarding. the girl at the boarding gate didn't have a cellphone (so i could inform my mommy of the change), and told me there wasn't enough time to go find a public phone. so i began walking down the ramp to the plane, when i realized i didn't have my bag with me.

DAMN. my hand-luggage contained all my important shit. so i legged it back to the boarding gate - not there - then SPRINTED to security, where it was still sitting on the side.

*PHEW*

close fucking call. very, very stupid of me.

someone on the plane let me sms, and then i took my seat.and then realized my seat was in first class. NICE. not the first time british airways had flown me first class for free ^_^

the flight was very pleasant - comfortable seats, good food. i made the mistake of reading the newspaper. waste of brain cycles. i guess i slept about half an hour. i was exhausted.

got off the plane, stood breathing in cape town air before getting on the bus to the terminal, waited an inordinate amount of time for my bag... again... even though stand-by luggage is usually off first...

and then met my mum outside! happy moment :)

being back in cape town is like a lucid dream. i still don't feel like i'm really here.

supper was at my sister's. huge family do, with uncles and cousins here from all over the country, and my brother to boot ^_^ it was all very enjoyable. and the food was great. my second mom and i were as if i hadn't been away, which is nice.

long supper later, i dropped my bags off at my mom's (here), had a shower, got dressed, and got picked up by hyperviper and racer. we drove into town, picked up katelyn (that's what i *thought* i heard when i met her), and we went off to a really serious club where racer was to spin.

so many beautiful girls. rediculous, actually. lots, and lots, and lots of drinks. lots of talking. lots of seeing people i haven't seen in years. funky music. we left just after racer began playing, and came back here for coffee. my mom was going to sleep, and hysterics ensued when i introduced katelyn as "katelyn", and was informed of her actual name.

OH. penny dropped, there'd been some fun poked at her actual name earlier that had gone straight over my head.

coffee was amusing, they've just left, and i'm about to brush teeth and crash.

all-in-all, it was an awesome night. tomorrow we have breakfast planned, i *have* to do some shopping, i have to start getting phone numbers together, and i'm going to do my best to get through to schpatcon. and tomorrow night is a huge party that i've just happened to arrive in time for ^_^

Thursday, December 15, 2005

so i got a ride to the base after work, crashed at 6am. it was super cold, so i didn't really sleep a hell of a lot - i would have got inside the sleeping bag, but spot had used it last, and there was a damp patch in the middle with a bullet next to it, and i got to wondering if they were his...

i was woken at 10am. by the mongoose. not by j-girl.

because the guys in the secretariat cancelled his trip to sa. WTF??!?! so i went down to his office, and we spent the next half hour getting organized. found a loophole, and so far it seems that we've managed to get around those creeps.

j-girl arrived, looking gorgeous as usual, and after saying good morning disappeared to do her "form hiking" thing. i spent the day collecting things that cannot be disclosed here yet, working, and crashing whenever there was waiting to be done. which totalled about an hour - not nearly enough.

fortunately my work lead us to discover and fix some rather deep problems with our new server, so i leave knowing that things are better off :)

once j-girl left the base, the release section was on high alert and everyone there was jumpy and nervous. around 3 or 4, i got a call from my contact there saying that everything at the first station had gone superbly, and that j-girl was absolutely thrilled, and the guys working the station were really chuffed with themselves. a relatively short while later, j-girl called, and she was completely awestruck.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

and i am SO proud of myself ^_^ i sent through a special thank you to everyone involved, they all did their jobs perfectly and made j-girl's release a unique and enjoyable one. and i get to take all the credit at the end - i can't stop grinning when i think about it!

j-girl took the bus to our base, and i hopped on when i passed, and we went into tel aviv for coffee / late lunch / early supper. it was really, really nice. and the food was amazing. an enormous hot beef salad.and j-girl wore the civilian dog-tag the entire time, which really pleased me.

we took a taxi to the bus station, said our goodbyes (which saddened me, at least), and then i made my way back to the base, where spot and the scout were still around.

i've been having a serious and rediculously illogical problem with the work i did for the mongoose, and spot's taken over. i hope he gets the job done, because if he can't, then in my opinion it's just not doable.

i got all my gear sorted out, we all did some taekwondo forms (the scout's are definitely improving, and spot's are a lot better than i expected). i then bussed home, so gosh-darn excited i couldn't help grinning and behaving like a total fool. i ran into a really cute girl from our unit who's just been released, and i'll be meeting up with her at the airport (she's off to rome), so it'll be less boring :)

i got home, am running washing and am halfway through packing, about to take a shower, and then i'm off to the lizard for some hard partying and drinking before the mongoose's ex brings me home to pick up my bags and then takes me to the airport.

i slept alright. the mongoose and i had a rushed get-up and run (not literally, though) to get to the base almost on time, i put some final touches on the presentation i've been working on, and then it was showtime.

it took a long time, and i took a metaphorical beating, but we all learned a bit, and overall the commanders are enthusiastic. unfortunately for the scout, i'm leaving in 26 hours or so, the dog (i think i'm going to begin calling him "spot") is on some course or other, and what remains of the "team" - just the scout - has been given a week to construct something for which the infrastructure just isn't ready yet.

sucks.

spent the rest of the day working, and teaching the scout more taekwondo - it was a lot of fun, and great exercise. and it really is pleasing to see him improve.

our team leader decided to do something risky with our servers, so i had to stay on base until everything was done to coordinate between all the involved parties.

fortunately i had work to do, or it could have been rather boring. went for a walk at one stage, ended up losing badly in a game of backgammon and talking to a couple of really cute girls - who informed me that the guard-commander's assistant (a guy in our section) got his finger sliced when checking a weapon. it always amazes me that they give these girls guns when they don't understand the basic principles of weapons-inspection. like, f'rinstance, DON'T RELEASE THE FUCKING CHARGING HANDLE WHEN SOMEONE'S FINGER IS IN THE EJECTOR PORT.

unfortunately, our team leader made a small miscalculation, and by the time 10.30pm rolled around it was clear that we were in deep shit. crazy organizing took place, i had to ensure that everyone would be in the right place at 7am.

i walked off the base at 11pm, having just been invited to yogi's birthday dinner. a seriously rushed shower and dress, and a taxi to a place called brown's.

taxied home, translating legalize over the phone for crasher, and got to bed around 2.30am.

today:

and woke up at 7.30 (i only overslept by an hour!) with a hangover. i bussed to azrieli, all the shops were closed. i bussed to the central station. all the shops were closed. instead of buying a starsign for a chain, i bought a little good luck symbol - last resort. went back to azrieli, still nothing doing: nothing's open before 10am. that's insane.

i realized on my way to the base that i'd left the guardian angel keyring at home. BUGGRIT.

i was so caught up in neverwhere that i missed my stop. that's rather unusual.

i arrived on base, my head still splitting, to a nightmare scene. our systems were still down, and everything in our supported section was being done by hand. suffice it to say that they weren't satisfied customers. until 11am we were all running around, and constantly working. not good for my brain.

the mongoose visited my office - that NEVER happens - and brought me the relevant cards we designed together. they came out beautifully. stunning, in fact. i also received a delivery, the contents of which i cannot disclose at the moment, and continued working.

our section commander accompanied me to the clinic, where he spoke to the idiot doctor on my behalf and organized me a temporary exemption from guarding. he then gave me a ride to my place, where i picked up the keyring, and then to the induction base.

one of the guys in my section organized for me to be met at the gate to the processing base, and he took me through to the office that produces dog-tags, and i walked out with an army-issued (that didn't cost NIS 100 or R150) dog-tag that states j-girl's name and the word "civilian" instead of her id number.

it's the shit. it's without a doubt the most styling army-produced thing i've seen. and it was my idea. i'm chuffed.

so i went to the releasing section, and organized the cards and gifts into envelopes that j-girl will receive at each stage of her release tomorrow.

sometimes, i'm just an absolute genius.

i bussed and trained to herzeliya - it took me from 4pm till 6pm to get to my cousins' place. had coffee, a good chat, and received things to transport to sa. i said goodbye, and walked to my boss's place. long, interesting talk - he was most upset with me, with good reason, because i assumed that i was the last person to know that the woman we work with gave birth, and didn't inform him.

dammit.

anyway, i got the form for my work permit, and then bussed back to tel aviv. i got home at 9pm, showered, dressed, packed to sleep on base, and arrived at work at 9.30. i've been completely wasted the entire night, and the phones just haven't stopped ringing. lots and lots and lots of stupid people.

we had good sushi, though.

so in another hour or so, i'll be walking off to the base, and going to bed. this time, i've given explicit instructions that the only person allowed to wake me up is j-girl. i'm totally looking forward to her getting released. in addition to the prezzies, i invited her out to dinner (woooooooo), but i'm not sure if she'll take me up on that. then it's pack bags, party, and i'm off to the airport.

OMFG!!!!

Monday, December 12, 2005

i kind of remember working a lot sunday morning. and i taught the scout the first pre-form from taekwondo, it was a lot of fun.

guarding:1) had a very pleasant evening, talked for hours before going to bed. why do all the great girls have boyfriends?2) neverwhere's been giving me crazy dreams since i began reading it, and i slept well last night, too.3) i'm well impressed with my "working uniform", it's all mine and it's a fighter's one, so it looks awesome.4) my guard shift (2-6) kicked ass. learned a good blues riff on my harmonica. talked most of the time. had a worrying encounter - i went to check a truck's permission, and he didn't have it. he started scrabbling frantically to search for it, and he looked mighty suspicous. there's me standing by the window, loosening my ammo clips and preparing to jump out the way and lock and load in case he pulled a gun on me.

today was chilled - i spent it napping and coffee'ing.

i checked the scout's form on my way out - he's definitely improved :) i went past the mongoose's office, we went missioning in azrieli, and he's now here as i modify the website.

a little late, but gms and raja ram's halloween is THE SHIT. evil and satisfying. makes me want to bounce around screaming ()*_*()

getting out of bed on thursday night was aweful. but i did it, and walked to work - spilling mustard on my sweater from a rather good toasted sammich :(

i worked from midnight until 6am. we had relatively few calls, so i got to spend most of my time working on a website for the mongoose. his graphic work is styling, but By Gum it's difficult to convert to html... or xhtml, as the case may be. i decided not to break my head too much with asp this time.

i got a ride home, slept about 4 hours, then continued working on it. around lunchtime the mongoose's girlfriend picked me up, and we drove around and about until we miraculously arrived at his work. let's just say her licence astounds me.

the mongoose's office is really sharp. with a great view. and excellent equipment. and he gets paid plenty to work there. DAMN.

disturbed - land of confusion kicks ass.

we went missioning for food, which took us to a humus place on ibn gvirol. was great until some bum started harrassing us. he was so fucked up we were sure he'd fall on the table. and he just wouldn't take no for an answer. put me in a right foul mood.

i slept in the car to the mongoose's, but for fear of my life kept them open on the way to my place. i crashed as soon as i got into my apartment, and woke up 14 hours later to continue working on the site.

i sent the woman i work with an sms to ask if she's available to work today, and got one back saying she's just given birth. i think i can forgive her ;)

so my plan for the day is to finish with this thing, and do some partying in the evening. less than a week before i touch down in cape town!!

Thursday, December 08, 2005

err... there's something in that headline that screams "metaphor", but i can't quite put my finger on it.

work last night (or, this morning) was again a dud. i think i may have slept for about an hour. watched some robot chicken, which is simply brilliant. also some southpark and family guy. all in all, a pleasant paid waste of a morning.

i got to the base around 4am, and got to sleep around 5am. hell, i even managed to shave.

i woke up about an hour later with a start, and scrambled to write down the nightmare i had:

there's a man who haunts me in my dreams. one of his eyes is torn, the other barely functioning, but he is eerily fast and his other senses are honed so remarkably that it's as if he's lost nothing. he moves with more than a feline grace, like fire smoothly burning along a path of oil. scary, and i don't know what he wants with me.

he caught up with us fleeing from him from my own grimy, godforsaken underground communal home, everything and everyone covered in dirt and fecal matter, stealing everything and praying to chance clean water.

i tried to take him on, and for a short while we fought - him being absolutely superb in hand-to-hand combat. and then he caught hold of me, and terror engulfed me, and i was frightened to the very depths of my soul.

i yelped...

... and was still yelping when my eyes shot open and i registered i was in my office.

i was woken at 9am by the mongoose, who did some inexplicable and most unpleasant things to get me off my bunk. once we'd sorted him out with an appointment at the clinic, we were informed that we were both up for court-martial. we went to check that out, and it turned out that our unit was only today informed of the court-martial i received however many months ago. and the mongoose's was bullshit. fuckers.

i spent the day working on a problem i was having inserting a specific type of data into our databases... everything that occured went against everything written in the documentation. drove me up the wall. eventually, i left out of sheer frustration - and then got a call from the scout saying he'd run my code on his machine, and it worked perfectly.

WTF?!?!

i definitely need this holiday.

i tried napping after lunch, our team-leader caught me and got upset. fortunately that's as far as that went :P

i missed by bus home, so i went to azrieli instead. i discovered that dog-tags cost in the region of NIS 100 (R150), so i'd rather get them for free from our connections on the induction base...

i walked home, and am now running a load of washing, showering, and going to sleep. i'm wasted. at midnight i have to return to work, and we're there until around 3.30am. so no partying for me tonight.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

anyway, so i took the bus to SB's, made it just in time for a pleasant dinner. i tried to fix her pc, i really did. it just doesn't like me. at all.

i got a much-needed massage, with one of those glass animal-massager thingies, and a cup of coffee for my trouble. then time sped back up and i had to bus to work.

a couple of incidents on the bus made me fully aware of the aptness of neil gaiman's comment at the beginning of the book i'm now totally into: he had a rumpled, just-woken-up look to him, which made him more attractive to the opposite sex than he would ever understand or believe.

the shift ended at 4.15am. we had a problem, so we're repeating the exact same shift tonight - more money, but i was meant to get other work done and i'm totally wasted.

i walked to the base, and eventually got to sleep around 6am. the dog had taken my sleeping bag and coat for guarding, so i slept REALLY uncomfortably... badly too.

and only for four hours. i spent the day at farewell parties, and sorting out my army pc which was in dire need of RAM - it's gotten so bad that i just can't work on it anymore... and we're under SO much pressure it's rediculous.

of course, in spite of this, i *had* to take the opportunity to play volleyball, and get some exercise. it was good fun. i did some forms afterwards, so my body feels right again, and i've just gotten home. i'm about to hit the shower (although there's a problem with the water in the building today - it might suck), then run off to SB's to fix her pc again, and then go back to work.

crazy, but as fucked up as i feel, i'm feeling invigorated also. all good.

last night: j-girl blocked me on messenger. that's not nice. i finally finished reading lolita, which is abso-bloody-lutely amazing, and i'm halfway through the second rogue trooper tpb, which is quite the shit.

today:

after sleeping enough - really sleeping enough - i bussed off to the bank. AGAIN i screwed up the days - this time because i didn't realize it was tuesday. DAMN.

i went off to saa, who almost cancelled my ticket back to sa before realizing that it was legit. that was frightening. i went to the el-al offices, they sorted me out, and i walked out with my tickets!! w00t!!

i got to the base, went shopping for goodies for my section's "celebration" of my birthday, and ascended to it. it was quite amusing - better 'n most of these things, and my section commander actually made a comment that suggests that he really does understand what he's been doing to me, and that he's glad to have finally found a use for me.

finally. could be worse.

the dog made sure that i got what i wanted for my birthday - as opposed to last year's unwearable sweaters, i'm now the proud owner and blower of a blues harmonica. annoy your friends! intrigue your enemies! actually, i'm getting the hang of it rather quickly. breathlessly, but quickly...

we spent the rest of the day working on the new system, for which we're now under serious pressure. and it is looking fan-friggin'-tastic. ran into a weird problem just before home-time, and spent half and hour frantically searching for the bug. turned out to be a stray parenthesis - who'da thought that would happen in java? got it sorted out, and it's all very pretty.

just got home, about to shower, and then very soon i'm off to work - first time since i began serving in the army that i'm working a night shift midweek. tomorrow looks daunting, but i'll have money! yaaaaay!

Monday, December 05, 2005

well. i don't remember too much about yesterday. i arrived late, around 10am, i did a lot of learning and playing for a new addition to our systems, and then i did the whole guarding thing.

i couldn't sleep. all i could think of was j-girl, and i couldn't figure out if she was just messing with me or not. and the more i thought about it, the more i realized how strongly i feel about her. maybe it's the masochist in me. so figuring that i have nothing to lose, i called her to just let it all out.

and got it thrown back in my face. at least i know she wasn't messing with me. doesn't really change how i feel, but it gave me some peace and quiet. shit happens, is all.

i decided that i wasn't merely a baby-killer in a previous life. i dropped the bomb on hiroshima. that's gotta be it.

my guard shift - not too bad. not bad at all, in fact. 2 to 6, in the worst place on the base, but one of the patrols stopped by, and we talked for ages. hell, he magically organized coffee, too. and he shared some tips and tricks for our new system which are extremely relevant and useful.

when he wasn't around, i had plenty of time to reflect, and i even stretched and practised forms (with gun, ammo belt and full waterbottle: it was slightly odd). i can't believe i remember them - it's more automatic than anything else.

i didn't go to sleep after the shift, instead i waited with another guard until breakfast. watching the course girls screaming for breakfast was most amusing, total flashback from basics, except we weren't treated so badly. and their commander is this tiny little girl who just oozes full-of-herself.

turns out the quality of the "omelettes" decreases rapidly over time, because the first batch was the first i've been able to eat since getting to the base.

spent the day either laying in bed feeling crap, or drinking sachleb / snacking with the mongoose, or my teammates. not at the same time, because the mongoose has finally had enough of the dog's crap work-wise.

after being released, i went to my office to scramble on some work - i have under a week to produce the presentation for the new system, and i'm not near ready. and my idiot team-leader has given me a project to prepare me for taking over his command again.

as if i didn't prove myself well enough last time. at least he's been treating us alright the last while - i think he wants to leave with the impression that he wasn't such an idiot. it's not going to help :P

i'm finally back. finally about to shower. and enjoy it. even if i'm not - i FEEL smelly.

Sunday, December 04, 2005

well, i went to the lizard. filled with pretty girls, it was. weird kind of vibe. may have just been me. got a ride home. shaving, showering, and going to bed. guarding tomorrow. can't wait. i'm just filled with baseless depression. not entirely baseless. just pointless. you know what i mean.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

i switched to the work pc after my last post, and spent the day working on the university and hospital projects. during the hospital work (which involved lots of waiting for the woman i work with to get back to me), i watched the first part of dune 2000. DAMN. they got it right ^_^

the university work was a bitch - MSSQL doesn't allow recursive calls to build virtual tables, so i had to find a workaround. doing that made me write two functions that negated the limitation. not only did it work (thank the lord! i was getting worried at one point :$), but it came out BEAUTIFULLY. i feel good about that.

mainly because that means $120 in my pocket for 6 hours work.

i spoke to j-girl. it wasn't the most pleasant of conversations, but it came out alright at the end. so nothing doing, but no animosity.

i smoked a lot of cigarettes today. in a few i'm going to shower and then fark off to the lizard again. just because.

i didn't get any work done, i did watch con air, and spent the evening talking to j-girl.

all the talking was great, until the last part of the last conversation. it should have been apparent that the last half a week or so everything with her has been just dandy. but last night she reverted back to how it was before, and said things that i didn't really pay attention to until after i'd left the apartment to go to the lizard.

the whole walk i thought about it, and by the time i'd gotten there not only was i in a foul mood - which hasn't really lifted, in spite of a fun party and way too much alcohol - but i've decided that i'm calling it all off. i don't need to be treated like a plaything. plenty of fish in the sea, and i'm not exactly desperate or undesirable.

glimpses from the party:

dead sexy girls

the barman trying really hard to help some guy who had too much to drink, who then proceeded to chuck like a firehose all over the place

talking to the mongoose's boss, seeing two of him, while being offered serious work - which i declined in what i hope was a graceful manner

i've just gotten home, wasted, and am off to bed. tomorrow will be filled with work, and the unpleasant feeling that goes with telling an otherwise great (and dead sexy) girl to get stuffed.

Friday, December 02, 2005

yep - never went to the bank. the boss woke me up, i'm getting $20 per hour for any further fixes to the system. that's good enough incentive for me. i did some shopping, and then watched the neverending story. i'd forgotten what terrible acting + a terrible script can do to a wonderful story. the animatronics are forgivable.

just received this email:

The Center for Disease Control has released a list of symptoms of bird flu. If you experience any of the following, please seek medical treatment immediately:1. High fever2. Congestion3. Nausea4. Fatigue5. Aching in the joints6. An irresistible urge to shit on someone's windshield

it's how i see myself right now. and totally uncoordinated due to sleep deprivation. strangely i always feel "normal" when i'm wiped out and still going strong.

work itself wasn't bad, but there were a lot of calls. i caught a few minutes of sleep in total. aside from catching up with mailing and blogging, and sending my boss an email to say that if he wants work done, he'll have to pay me, i spent almost the entire shift talking to j-girl online.

i walked home, and she's all that's on my mind. emotionally i'm on my guard with her, because i'm totally taken with her and it's still not clear where i stand. it's clear that i'm in a favourable position, but nothing more than that. i've been wondering a lot about my weekend - not going to the kibbutz is a good opportunity to get a lot of work done... but it's also an opportunity to take her parents up on their offer to stay there for the sabbath. i have no idea if it's a good idea to broach the subject with her. these kinds of mind-games are definitely screwing me up, and it makes me laugh (at myself) because i don't mind. that's got to count for something.

i just got home, and i'm waiting to shower. i'm not sure if it's wiser to crash for an hour or two, or to stay up and go straight to the bank. i'll probably nap and pay for it later ;)

Thursday, December 01, 2005

as usual. i got up at 5.30, after the most comfortable, incredibly good sleep. half an hour later i emerged from the coccoon of ru55's, and made my way to the base. i arrived at 8.15, well impressed with myself, but not having slept a wink during the ride.

i don't know why.

it was a pretty ugly day. some of it was nice, especially breakfast with the boys. the mongoose finally understood that he's coming to a dangerous country, which provided a lot of entertainment. and lunch didn't totally suck.

it sucked knowing that j-girl isn't going to be coming to visit me in my office any more. that's really been taking the edge off a lot of my work.

i found out that after i left the base yesterday, the scout got emailed his results from the course we did. he got 75, and excitedly called our team leader to tell him. who promptly responded "yes, i know - now tell me why <my name here> got 10% higher than you."

oops. i burst out laughing when i got my result this morning, and then felt really bad when the others told me what happened :(

and today, workwise, was simply aweful. we had tons of work, tons of pressure, and there were problems with almost every stage. when we finally finished at 4.15pm, the dog and i practically ran off the base.

i spoke to my cousin from the kibbutz, she's going into surgery sunday so she asked that i not come over this weekend. i hope she'll be okay. i hope she'll be okay enough by next weekend for me to visit them before i leave...

i've come up with a fantastic way to "get back" at j-girl for all the cool things she did for my birthday... i've decided to keep it quite under wraps in the hope that i don't somehow spoil it. more on that as it happens ;)

the dog and i went to azrieli, for some mostly unsuccessful shopping. and pizza. i bought some more dvd's - slowly growing the collection ;) went to my place to drop off some things, played some tekken, and then got frustrated by a rogue bus and had to take a taxi to get to work on time.

started off fairly easy, kinda quiet. then i got to the base. and EVERYBODY, even the guards who i don't know for shit, was wishing me happy birthday. WTF?! how do these people know?

i did some work in the morning, and got some things sorted out. i was sitting in my office, when the door opened and i heard a loud bang - j-girl walked in with a giant bunch of balloons and sparklers, and topped it off with a styling card and a huge piece of candy.

she sat with me for a short while, then ran off as it was her last day in the army - so she had lots to do, people to see...

i ate the candy. t'was great. until she came back and was shocked that i ate something decorative. how the hell was i supposed to know it's not for eating? if it's not for eating, make it inedible!!

we went off to the finals of the volleyball tournament. we should have won. we sucked the big one. everyone had a really bad day - all at the same time. so that was VERY disappointing.

i went home and showered, then met j-girl at the central train station, and we took a bus to jerusalem. met her parents, and some of her siblings, and then we went to a nice coffee shop / restaurant for a good dinner. we then went to see the corpse bride... AWESOME movie. i fsckin' loved it. very arty, very slick, extremely entertaining. even j-girl enjoyed it, and she doesn't like "animation". blehh.

she gave me a ride to ru55's, and i'm about to go to bed. after i finish my beer ;) INCREDIBLE bloody place - enormous apartment with the feel of a well-put-together mansion (and some help from an interior decorator, it appears). i'm well impressed.

and in about 4 or 5 hours i'm going to crawl out of bed and make my way to the base. but the birthday itself was the shit.

ps. before i get any apologies from anyone who forgot - REALLY, it's okay. i'm not one for remembering birthdays, and this year (not that i don't appreciate it!) was WAY more than i'm used to...

pps. 15 days till i get on that plane! FIFTEEN DAYS!! wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

i started off the day around 7.15, and made it to the ministry of absorption around 9. i took the loooooong bus because it got to the stop first, and it stops right by the ministry. i'm not taking it again if i can help it. it would have been quicker to walk, dammit.

so i get there, and they tell me that the "city officer" (a different kind, i can't explain that) had moved to offices right near where i live.

buggrit.

i check, double check, and make them call someone else to make sure. sod it all, i got on another bus and headed back to my side of tel aviv.

it took half an hour to get there, half an hour of walking from place to place only to discover that nobody had any idea what i was looking for, ten minutes to get the right phone number and discover that nobody moved anywhere, and half an hour to get back.

what i haven't yet mentioned is that today was SWELTERINGLY hot. crazy. unpleasant in the extreme.

so i get to the original place - a few blocks from the ministry goddammit, sort out my shit in under two minutes and then return to the ministry. took another five minutes to sort out the paperwork, and then i could go to the bank of jerusalem to sort out my money.

tuesdays are the days to go for soldiers - no need to wait in the queue, and all the right people / documents are available.

as of a couple of months ago, the bank of jerusalem is closed on tuesdays. FARKIN' HELL. i'll have to go back on friday after work.

i then took a bus to ra'anana. i was kinda tired, so i sat at the back of the bus and warped in and out of sleep. things kept getting hotter and hotter, and about 5 minutes before i had to get off the bus i realized why - i was sitting on top of the friggin' radiator. no wonder the aircon wasn't working where i was.

so i got off the bus dazed and dehydrated, sweaty and unhappy. licked the melted chocolate off the wrapper - making quite a mess - and got to the offices of my landlords, where i handed them the piece of paper that was due a couple of months ago.

last night my boss and i had arranged to meet in the late morning (which it was), so i called him. to discover that he wasn't anywhere in the area, and wouldn't be back till late afternoon. bastard. so i hopped on a bus back to tel aviv. what a waste of a long journey.

i spoke to my taekwondo instructor on the phone, i'm going to try to make friday trainings from now on - it's been too long.

i met up with j-girl at the central train station, and we went through to azrieli... just to sit with airconditioning. after a while we took a train back to the central station. it was so comfortable, and we were both tired, that i wanted to just miss the station and rest a while, then return a bit later. she agreed, but when the train stopped she jumped off anyway.

bummer. i would've enjoyed that.

waited for her bus, said goodbye and went to work. i arranged some stuff with the girl in charge of shifts, and got a neat gift from the company for my birthday - a voucher for a few books. nice ;)

snacked, sat online for a bit, then bussed to the supermarket to collect my monthly free goodies. floccinoccinihilipification? i guesstimated wrong - i had to pay 1.3 shekels over the amount i expected. not bad!

i then bussed back home, which included an unpleasant interaction with some old guy who didn't appreciate two of us having opened the window. it was all hot and sticky, and he was the last one on. that's not cool. he didn't stop harrassing me till i got off the bus.

dropped my gear off, and walked a bit to the hardware store and replaced my shower head. bussed back. spoke to j-girl on messenger, turns out she spent the last hour checking out SB on the internet - girls. always got to compare themselves against the ex.

my commander called, to make sure i'm alive. i hope no soldiers are in trouble again. they usually only do that when there's a reason.

i'm about to check if my new shower head fits. and then probably go to bed. my computer's been making a horrible intermittent squealing sound since this morning, and if i take it to the computer store here it'll cost me 120 schmecks just to check. and i'm not in any way inclined right now to check it myself.

i was contemplating going rollerblading tonight. it's a definite maybe.

Monday, November 28, 2005

i slept like a baby. kind of. the whole day was a bit weird, because we actually had work to do... nothing really interesting happened. aside from me remembering why i hate talking on telephones - i spoke to j-girl for a few minutes, and i came across as such an absolute wanker. my sense of humour *requires* the target's ability to see my expression :(

our commander kept us on half an hour extra, because he wasn't satisfied with what we'd done. that sucked, as i'm now rushing off (in a couple of minutes, the bus only leaves in 10 minutes) to SB's for dinner with her and some of her friends.

tomorrow's a LONG day, i've taken it off to sort out bits of my life. lots of running around headless-chicken style.

the title of the post was in reference to the work environment today. we're not used to sitting down for long periods of time, so we kind of got silly. figuring out ways to scare the bejeezus out of the scout (had to apologize for one of them, almost had to have him hospitalized :P), and general arbitrary milling around singing strange things. and of course, going CRAZY for that last half hour.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

i started off the day walking to the "city officer". j-girl was supposed to join me, but she arrived in the area about an hour late. i realized as i left my apartment that i'd brilliantly managed to leave my referral on base. this is not the first time.

i came up with the brilliant scheme of the scout taking a bus and meeting me at azrieli with the paper. five minutes after i pitched this idea, he called me back to ask why he couldn't just fax it directly to them... genius! :P

everything at the clinic went smoothly. the girl who took the blood was rather good, and we had an interesting discussion when we realized that we're both, army-wise, in the same situation. not a lot of us around.

j-girl met me as i walked out, and we had ice-cream for breakfast before returning to the base, just in time for lunch. we'd spent the entire time having a very serious argument. nothing spells relationship like a good fight.

i went with the mongoose for humus, which was okay, but we were both exhausted. we talked a lot, and then i went through to his section to see some of his work. one of the guys in his section came to talk to me - his grandfather had passed away 2 hours prior, and it's the first time he's had to deal with a death in the family. there really isn't a hell of a lot to say in those situations. it reminded me of the relatively recent deaths in mine...

returned to my section, around 1.30pm or so. spent a while teaching the scout the merge-sort algorithm, and discussing higher education in computer science. and then we really goofed for a while.

j-girl came around, and we finally got to the crux of the matter. that doesn't mean that it's all gravy, but it's definitely on the right track. i spent the last half hour actually doing the work i was meant to, and in a flash of brilliance managed to complete it by placing the responsibility (for the last part) squarely on someone else's shoulders. i could leave the base with a clear conscience.

i went with j-girl to the train station. on the bus, nearing the station, something between us just clicked.

nothing spells relationship like a good make up.

in fact, twice as we were making out on a park bench, police slowed down - and i have to admit it was quite exhiliarating to continue in spite of the possibility of serious shit for public indecency in uniform. this girl may just be wild enough for me. two of her buses later, she returned to jerusalem and i bumblingly attempted to perambulate to my stop. it took me a good 20 minutes to walk normally again.

^_^i do hope my birthday present from her goes something along those lines

a pleasant walk home, stopping for a quick bite on the way, and i'm now running laundry, and taking a nap until it's done.

the gang got together for a serious braai - it was really nice. after saying goodbye to everyone, i got a ride through to the lizard.

i only went to the lizard to say goodbye to the mongoose's ex-girlfriend, who's off for london tomorrow.

i arrived, stashed my bags at the kiosk next door, and was then greeted with the sight of an incredible number of friendlies from the base, including j-girl, for my surprise birthday party.

the bastards really got me. i was in total shock for about half an hour.

it was a really nice party, loads of fun. much appreciated ^_^drinking didn't help the fact that i was completely wasted when i got there... but i spent most of the time dancing on a floor packed with people who'd come for me :)

j-girl is officially off my list of friendlies. she is DEAD sexy out of uniform, but the way she treats me is just not on. i won't take that kind of thing from a relative minor. i'm looking for a healthy, easy-going relationship, not something from a bad high-school movie.

aside from her, there were quite a few other eye-catchers. i wish i'd been in a state to speak.

i've just gotten back, i'm preparing for a quick shower, and i'm praying that'll i'll be able to sleep when i hit the sack. it's been a heavy, heavy weekend - i don't know how i'll deal with the day after!

j-girl called, and invited herself to sleep over at my place tonight. i really can't handle the game thing too much more - if nothing interesting happens, i think i might have to disengage. she really is too cute to just throw away, though :P

i applied for the green-card lottery. here's hoping i get through to the next stage *thumbs held*

friday night supper was really good. i caught a bit of metoroporisu (metropolis), which is absolutely beautiful. and the story, from what i gained, is great. must rent.

ru55 brought me the liquorice he bought in europe - it's not salted... it's painfully, powerfully mint. getting through one of the sweets was an ordeal. although i'm not saying that i won't enjoy the rest of 'em...

SxS and i met up with some good friends from varsity for coffee, which was most pleasant. did some very entertaining catching up, but it's always a bit sad to say goodbye knowing that without SxS here the chances of us meeting up are minimal.

we joined yogi at ru55's, and spent the morning conversation-jumping. we've just returned to catch some much needed sleep.

when i chill with these guys, everything falls into the pattern it was before we all separated, and my brain kick-starts from the now-usual mindless slogging and dealing. i wish i had some way of keeping my returned attitude at the forefront when i'm out of the loop. i like feeling like a human being, and my present situation army and work-wise would be vastly improved if only i could stop getting taken down by my routine and arbitrary unimportant things.

the night has been COLD though. freezing. a harsh reminder that winter's almost arrived, and big jackets, gloves, ski-masks, and multiple layers of clothing will soon be necessary... w00t! 15 days before i get to sunny sa!

wednesday morning was alright - i really wasn't very productive. unfortunately, our team leader noticed this, and gave us all a Very Boring (and Long) Speech about not doing it again.

whatever.

after j-girl "deciding" on tuesday not to continue, things went back to the way they were two days prior. so although i appreciated the physical (not extreme, chill) intimacy, it was a tad confusing.

i got all sorts of missioning-type things done - including getting final authorization to leave the country! w00t!

guard-duty was all good. i knew the guard commander from before, and the group was good, so it was all very relaxed. we spent the evening playing "durak", and for my second time playing i did alright. the japanese expression for the week is "watashi no me!", which means "my eye!" - randomly shouting it while cupping an eye is most amusing. i tried to get some sleep before my shift - finally passed out around 9pm, was woken rudely for a "jump" around 22.15: the commander couldn't understand why i was so abrupt after i'd finally gotten some quality sleep...

i didn't really sleep well before the shift - 2 to 6am, but the shift was great. the second-in-command joined us for a lot of it, just because we didn't stop talking for four hours. it was the most interesting guard-shift discussion i've had to date. at some point my team-leader's ex rocked up, and provided me with a yoyo. aside from keeping me awake, there's something strangely entertaining about standing at an army gate with an uzi, "walking the dog".

i got an hour's sleep after the shift, then began some serious rounds of coffee and breakfast. j-girl joined in a bit later, and she informed me that the reason she's not interested is because i'm too nice.

fuck off.

in fact, the more i think about it, the less i want anything to do with her (relationship-wise), because the main thing that i was attracted to was the sense that she wouldn't want to play games. i can't be arsed to suffer another high-school girlfriend.

the mongoose was good enough to replace me on alert, and i hurried home, showered, packed, took the bus to the train station, and got to work EXACTLY as the guys from there were leaving to the circumcision.

circumcisions are never great. there's something very defining about it as a jew:a) hurt the child in an extremely personal manner, then give him some wineb) make both parents completely neuroticc) test the mettle of all the friends and familyd) say thank you to the guy who's caused all the trouble

only one girl fainted during the proceedings. the mohel (dude what surgerizes, like), i gather from sammy's reaction, wasn't most efficient, or didn't use the sharpest knife in the drawer.

but i stood there thinking of daddy sammy, watching his first-born son entering the world as a jew, after converting for love. sammy: you're a king. and you score points for suffering all the speeches, too ;)

i travelled up north with one of sammy's friends, who proved to be great company. although we were caused considerable stress by the bus being 45 minutes late, things were fine.oh, yeah: and waking up surrounded by people speaking loudly in arabic, and then registering that the bus is driving through the middle of an enormous arab town, is not comforting. especially when in uniform. instant paranoia, baby!

got to the kibbutz - talk about a breath of fresh air - just in time for a superb dinner of hot curry and coconut chicken bits in rice. we all talked quite a lot, and then i totally crashed. slept beautifully, until around 8am, and i'm now planning on nothing until i leave around 1pm to return to ra'anana.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

i struggled out of bed, did the dreary dos of the morning, and got to the base on time. my day kind of moved in bits and bobs, i don't really have much of an order for things, because in my head they didn't have any order to begin with.

a) j-girl. t'was going great until she told me that she's not interested in pursuing a relationship. aside from the obvious disappointment, it actually improved my mood. i don't know why. maybe because it's one less thing to think about, maybe because being in-between sorta sucked.

b) i'm guarding again tomorrow. i'd forgotten about that - and that will make it VERY difficult to go to the circumcision for sammy's little one on thursday... must sort something out.

c) formally requesting permission to leave the country.

instead of the ten days "free" i was supposed to have, i only have three. it shouldn't make any difference, but it came as a shock.

they warned me not to tell anybody overseas that i'm in the army, and in case somebody harrasses me they gave me a south african number to call.

it's not a valid number.

my welfare officer and i got to talking (or: i got to whining) about my present situation. i suddenly realized that with my new conditions, i can resume working helpdesk during the week! and she gave me a bit of a better perspective about my service - i keep forgetting not to assume that i'm going to be released anytime soon, and that i shouldn't think about the fact that i'm sorted on the outside.

d) our new project is heart-warming.

e) doctor's appointment: only two hours after the designated time. i got the referral for the orthopaedist, and one for an HIV test. he told me that if there wasn't any reason to worry, then i shouldn't get it done. he couldn't understand why i didn't approve of his attitude.

moron. they'll hand out doctor's degrees to just anyone these days.

i called to make the orthopaedist appointment - and got told to call back in a few days. i asked the girl to define "a few". she told me to pick a number between 1 and 10. it's SO nice to deal with professionals!

once home, i saw that i've finally got demolition man, so i've freed up some disk space with a new dvd, finished reading judge dredd - goodnight kiss (which is the SHIT), and am about to shower and probably go to bed.

or something. i don't actually know how i feel or what i want to do. but i do feel under less pressure.

Monday, November 21, 2005

so i've just discovered that my cousin whose family i stay with from time to time on the kibbutz has breast cancer. and her son's joining the artillery corps next week, and she hates to see him going into military service.

i spoke to her two minutes after i finished talking to my mother. a serious moan, groan and whine because i'm right now HATING everything to do with the army. partially caused by the good news about my post-army work-status, mostly caused by the severe timewasting, and being treated like a grunt by the most worthless people i've ever come into contact with.

oh, and the fact that i'm so down i can't get any work done. i have no motivation for anything. welcome back, depression! it's been a while! i'm watching my bank account crawling into a little ball, and worrying sick about what i'll see when i get back from south africa may just ruin my holiday.

i spoke to my mom on my way home from the firing range. it's been pouring with rain the entire day, and my bag and myself were soaked. i was placed in the last group to shoot, which meant coming out of two days straight in the army, and having to wait until 7pm to go inside... and fire 5 bullets with an uzzi with a target so riddled with bullets that nobody's capable of checking to see if we hit them at all.

i spent most of today (from 10am) sleeping, or being a zombie. and i've slept so badly that my neck's acting up, and every motion brings me sharp pain to a nerve far to close to my brain for me to be able to focus on anything else. just before leaving the base, however, i saw what the dog's been working on, and it looks absolutely AMAZING. it's actually difficult to see it as a web-application, because it looks more powerful and functional than the original.

my guard shift (2am to 6am) was the worst since my week of guard duty in january. i'm fairly sure i've been sick (cold sort of sick) for the last two days, which would explain the problematic wake-up yesterday, and my getting caught twice having passed out during the shift itself. but literally passing out, i was trying to stay awake and couldn't tell the difference between my dreams and reality.

i didn't get much sleep the night before - and it was terrible sleep. i hate sleeping with boots on, and a gun makes a terrible pillow. my neck is HURTING.

i finished the kite runner before going to bed - it IS a great book, well worth reading, well worth suffering the perspective of a man who's written about well enough that it's easy to HATE him. first time i've cried from a book since the power of one. i think.

the afternoon before guarding sucked. it sucked from the moment j-girl left, because then i had nothing to distract me from the reality of my army situation. lord help me when she leaves our base in 9 days.

the morning was alright - i got to the base late because i realized, after two stops, that i'd left my phone at home. fuckin' A. aside from a few arbitrary things to run around with, i spent the morning with j-girl. it's funny how from the moment i saw her things with her were alright, even though they'd been so screwed up in my head during the weekend. just right. comfortable. the way it should be.

back to now: finishing my quasi-chicken soup and hot chocolate, showering and going to bed. i don't care about anything else right now.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

at SB's last night, i saw something entirely strange. her system refused to load explorer - but through the task manager i could run practically anything, aside of course from ie. that's just strange. i'm going past her place for lunch to try and re-install.

we had a much-needed (for me, at least :P) talk, and i felt much better for it.

i walked through to the lizard, which was a good party. the mongoose's boss came to talk to me - after the "work" he saw me do he wants to start a new project with me. he started talking to me about google rankings, and then about a company that spams blogs. i suddenly connected this with a previous conversation with him where he talked about gambling ads, and i told him that i'm not prepared to join the dark side of the web.he got this innocent look, and said: "well, it's money!"it's not money. it's my soul we're talking about.

i'm right now in the early processes of waking up - i almost slept in, which would cause me no end of shite. my brain just wants to shut everything down and continue with the completely wicked and lucid dreaming...

Saturday, November 19, 2005

j-girl called. there was something in her tone of voice that sparked something incredibly unpleasant, gave me the creeps. i went for a run (where i've learned that i run approximately 10x faster than i walk), to clear my head a little, and i've decided that i'm just going to stick with my heart and not use my head at all. in this case, it's telling her to back off until she knows what she wants. i'm guessing this will cause her to not want me at all anymore, but if so, so be it. i can't stress for bullshit. i'm semi-human, after all.

i'm off to SB's now, then to the lizard. i never did get around to working, so i figure i'll do the crucial stuff when i get back.

as usual. last night was tres cool - walked to the lizard, had a couple of drinks and danced with the mongoose's girlfriend and her friend... had to protect them from some creep on the dancefloor:

"dude, these two are mine.""you look like a good guy...""i'm not."

the music was kind crappy - i managed to convince everyone to move to the meimad. we finally got there around 3.30, and it was ROCKING. filled with gorgeous girls in serious gothic outfits, and the music was powerful. we went crazy until around 5 / 6am.

i got up around 1.30 pm, from a crazy dream involving getting into new york via cobra-style rollercoaster and manoeuvering over skyscrapers with huge missile silos on their roofs. i haven't really achieved a hell of a lot today. the medsupply project needs a complete redesign, i haven't yet looked at the university work yet... maybe i'll do that now.

around 20 minutes ago i called j-girl, and woke her up... seems she had a longer night than i did :P i really hope she stays over tonight.

Friday, November 18, 2005

it has been a most peaceful day. i went out, had breakfast, bought new hair clippers and a huge (and far less plasticky) shower curtain, and did some basic food shopping.

it was a beautiful day, so i spent it inside. it took far longer than i expected, and was more complicated than i expected, to shave my head. i remember it being less of a chore. but the new clippers are DANDY. i gots me professional ones ^_^

i spent the day arbing online, reading news and chatting with friends and family. unbelievably, that covers everything - it's an infinitely long process :P

i just watched young guns - dig that film - and i'm now planning on playing something before either crashing or going out. very seriously planned, my evening is.

dreary day in the class sleeping badly and reading some more - chitty: it's a good book, i just *HATE* the protagonist, as a person.

i cut class around 2, went to the base. nobody gave two shits about me ditching. i did some work, and spent some time with j-girl.

i told our team-leader how i feel about the course. it greatly upset him. and i got threatened with terrible things if i fail. sadistic bastard.

we played tekken in the office, ate a supposedly pizza-like substance that i paid for later on, and then SxS called me to tell me he's in the country for a few days. so i waited for the dog, who took his time, and we bussed to herzeliya.

we went out for drinks, then to a park in pituach. the drinks were great.

in the park, after i'd specifically warned the dog to leave the lighter i got from SB alone (i've assigned it rather a large amount of sentimental value), he managed to lose a tiny part. stupid fucker was trying to annoy me, and he managed to ruin a gift whose every use (until now, of course) has reminded me of the good and the bad regarding SB.

considering that he knew how i felt, he's just lost a friend. there are some things i refuse to accept, and such a blatant disregard for my personal property and emotions is one of them.

yogi and fiancee gave me a ride home, and i crashed completely and utterly on arrival.

yesterday:

yesterday is going down as day of the year ^_^

on my way to the course, i stopped in to some arbitrary cafe for breakfast, and started some hilarious conversations between the owner and the other customer. that put me in a great mood, as did the humongous chocolate croissant and decent coffee.

in the morning i got an sms from sammy - he's a daddy!! 3.95kg baby at 18.30 on wednesday: i think that's seriously awesome!

the scout taught me everything we've "learned" during the last week in about two hours. i kept asking "that's it??" we had an okay lunch (although the service, as is normal for that area, was just terrible), and then went back to write the exam.

it wasn't easy, and i don't know if i passed, but i DO know that i was thrilled at the prospect of the course being over. i had a huge grin on my face the whole time, and after half an hour i rushed off to the base. i ran into our section commander, and told him the whole story of the course and the exam, and i think i'm covered in the event that i failed. and he promised not to send me to any more courses.

i avoided the dog, and hung around with j-girl until she could leave. we went to azrieli for ice-cream and crepes, and then walked to my place.

-- blank space --

aside from my tastes as far as hard rock, metal, house and trance go, we don't have any major musical problems :) and my dress sense doesn't bother her at all. in my opinion, that's a good start :P

she was a little shocked when she saw her picture hung up on my wall - until i explained that the paper behind it is my to-do list... then it was okay...

*HUGE grin*

we took a taxi to the train station (*a-hem* running late), and 2 minutes after we said goodbye yogi arrived to pick me up. and we went through to yakimono.

it's one of the most expensive restaurants in the country. all the big cheeses and famous persons go there. we rocked up with a table already prepared, and we weren't allowed to use the menu. mmf spent the night (3 hours of straight eating) plying us with black label and expensive sparkling water, and what is - without any doubt in my mind - the most fantastic food i've ever eaten.

it was all perfect. PERFECT. and it just kept on coming. by the time i got to the dessert, i'd had to struggle to get halfway through my crab, which was superb, but even the tiny morsels of meat were getting difficult to take down. my mouth wanted more, and i could feel my pants bursting. i have never eaten SO much food, and each bite, from the beginning, was simply earth-shattering - i spent the 3 hours in post-orgasm mode.

and then, to top it all off, SxS refused to let us so much as SEE the bill. i must be honest, i had planned to be careful, but after the first round i realized that giving up my month's salary on that place was worth it ^_^

we went through the mmf's place afterwards, where i crashed on the bed. they woke me up and yogi gave me a ride home... it's getting very deja-vu, i keep stumbling out of his car at rediculous hours of the morning, and shambling up to bed.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

what a dreary, long-ass day. the course sucked harder than usual, and i've decided that i really don't give a shit if i fail. so i'll explain to the branch commander that i really didn't want to. and tell him sleep deprivation is the cause.

or something.

i spent most of the class either sleeping, or reading kite runner. farking unpleasant read. i so completely and utterly don't identify with the protagonist, even though he grows up in somewhat similar conditions to my childhood.

everything after his first confrontation is a bitch to read, because i hate him so much. *i* feel betrayed. i guess that makes it a good book, but i don't know if want to continue reading it or not.

had sushi for lunch at azrieli, which was really nice, but not so good on the quantity side. did some shopping, before returning to hell's foyer.

from the course i went home, showered, and got my things together to sleep on the base. the bus to sagirl's friend was supposed to arrive at the stop when i did... it got there 40 minutes later with the next one. bastards. i eventually got there, dropped off the stuff, and then got picked up by the previous owner of my apartment, so i could give her her mail and get a ride to the train station.

she has a MIND-BLOWING bike. that thing just fucks off, and she definitely knows how to ride it. i had fun.

the scout picked me up from there, and we went to the base, where we spent the evening working and playing tekken. did some nice things, and then the scout gave me a ride home. i've just discovered that i managed to acquire a french-dubbed version of bad boys. that sucks ass.

i'm watching the remainder of thrashin', then crashin' so's i can wake up far too early to go off and be tortured.

Monday, November 14, 2005

the day was long. and worse than expected. only someone who's destiny can only be filled as a DBA could possibly appreciate the things the demon threw at us.

the scout made an interesting observation today. throughout class, i'm either monged completely, and half passed out, or i'm totally aggro. there isn't a single plus about this course. i can feel my soul slowly, sickeningly sucked into a mad vortex of improbable, pointless paradigms.

one of the guys from the course joined the scout and me at the lincoln, and we played some really good pool - i totally enjoyed it. i then went through for coffee with SB, which was really nice. i'm glad and lucky that i have someone to keep my brain from exploding - she keeps reminding me that i'm human :)

i'm reading kite runner - it was a bit of drudging at first, but it's begun to appeal to me. i've definitely read worse.

i've just watched the first half of thrashin' - totally cheesy and not half as good as i remembered it. but still fun. i don't think i'll be saving it carefully :P

gonna shower now, then crash into the netherworld. my brain's imploding, implored by my body to slow then seizure.

here be dragons

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"If I thought that my reply would be to someone who would ever return to earth, this flame would remain without further movement; but as no one has ever returned alive from this gulf, if what I hear is true, I can answer you with no fear of infamy." t.s. eliot quoting dante